Researchers at Carnegie Mellon develop a robot for use in retail stores

New York -- The campus store at Carnegie Mellon University has a new attraction: a small robot called AndyVision. Developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Intel Science and Technology Center in Embedded Computing, the robot is designed to help keep track of store inventories and assist customers in finding products, according to a report on PCWorld.

The robotic device is outfitted with a Kinect sensor, a combination of image-processing and machine-learning algorithms and has an on-board computer that comes with a database of 3D and 2D images of the store’s products and a basic map of the store’s layout, the report said. It glides around the Carnegie Mellon store, checking the shelves for low stock or misplaced items. The information it gathers is sent back to the store’s iPad-equipped associates.

Once the initial campus store trial is finished, the researchers hope to test AndyVision in several local, PCWorld reported.

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